The 3 Dufour-Lapointe Sisters

A family story.

The Dufour-Lapointe household used to be summer focused. They were sailors, owners of a sailboat. Every friday, the Dufour-Lapointe family hurried home from work to leave early so they could enjoy a weekend on their boat. Dufour and husband Yves Lapointe never imagined their three daughters would become world class mogul skiers.

The Dufour-Lapointe enjoyed skiing in the Laurentians, north of their home in Montreal. However, skiing was just a way to spend winters outdoors. It was a sideshow to sailing, a way to make winter go faster. When skiing, the parents did enjoy adventuring in the woods and in moguls, which led to ski lessons by the age of 3 for each daughter.

This family activity took a turn when Maxime, then 10, watched a friend perform in a mogul race. The jumps gave her thrills and she decided to give it a try. It wasn’t long before she was hooked, and coming from an athletic background, she was soon competing as part of a team. Seeing all the travelling and fun their big sister was having, both younger sisters soon joined in.

Skiing

Today, all three sisters travel the world following the snow. Sailing has become an occasional family trip, when they can afford to squeeze the time between the very demanding training and competition. However, the many years spent in close-quarters during sailing trips has created tight bonds that have kept the sisters close despite competing against each other.

“We tried to split them up at one point during training,” says national team coach Marc-Andre Moreau. “But it was too hard to do. They always wanted to be together.”

Even when young, the sister were keen on staying together, bribing the younger sister with chocolates to follow them through the moguls and glades one last time.

“Since we’ve been young, my mom was like, You will always be sisters: love each other, push each other, help each other,” Maxime said. “You’ll always be sisters, and skiing is only for a few years.”